In his latest Crash.net column, reigning Superbike World Champion Troy Corser talks about his unusual double DNF at Assen...
Hey guys,
Well what can I say? That was a weekend to forget, I'm disappointed to come away with two DNFs, and it is a strange feeling. All we can do is re-group, move on to Germany and try to redress the situation.
The weather was shocking for race one but everything was feeling pretty good, we made a good set up with the bike in the warm up in the wet. I felt pretty good but I did have some trouble with my visor fogging up, it was alright for about two laps and then it started to fog, so I had to ride without seeing really, which was pretty bad. I ended up hitting a bit of a puddle and I just aquaplaned, lost the front, simple as that. Basically I couldn't see the water as I couldn't see the ground. I could just see enough in front of me, but couldn't see the ground. I was real disappointed with that.
Race two went from bad to worse, can't believe I only got as far as turn one. Off the start line, Haga got a little bit better start than me. He moved across in front of me, which was fine as he was going past me, but then he missed a gear. So basically it was like him hitting the brakes, and I was full throttle behind him and I crashed straight into the back of him and his bike. The impact exploded the front rim and bent the front disc - I basically went into the first corner with a flat front tyre... and then the tyre came off the rim. Unlucky, but lucky that I didn't have a bigger crash; I really could have got seriously hurt. I was lucky not to get hit by the bike.
I had been looking forward to Assen; it was all feeling pretty good. I think for sure I could have had a couple of podiums, but we are going to Lausitzring now and it isn't one of my favourites. We struggled there a bit last year, but we had a good test at Lausitz earlier this year so we'll just go and pick up where we left off.
See you there.
Troy
